A photodiode array is being used in conjunction with computer data processing with the objective of providing an instrument for the simultaneous multi-element analysis of biological materials. A Reticon 512 element array with individual elements on a 25 micron spacing has been interfaced to a Data General Corporation Supernova Computer. The array is mounted on a Heath 0.35 meter monochromator to give a wavelength coverage of about 30 nm and a resolution of about 0.2 nm. The electronic circuitry of the array is under computer control permitting software control of operating parameters. Repeated scans of the array can be summed by the computer for integration or subtracted for background correction. In this configuration the array provides demonstrably useful sensitivity though it is about two orders of magnitude less sensitive than a good photomultiplier tube. Immediate future goals are to test the array as a detector for flame spectroscopy to study methods for getting more light onto the array to compensate for its relatively low sensitivity and to study the effect of cooling the array on noise levels. The basic system has been developed to the point that its performance as a multi-element detector using the nitrous oxide-acetylene flame source can now be tested.